Salem
by TheFandomParade
Summary: February 1692, and Eren's life finally seems to be getting better. He's got a steady job, and maybe a new friend. But what happens when all of a sudden his world is turned upside down, and he's forced to protect his friends at all cost. Danger lurks everywhere, but one thing's for sure. Salem Village wasn't ready for this.


_Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head See, the sea wants to take me The knife wants to slit me Do you think you can help me ?_

The Smiths – I Know It's Over

February 1962….

Rain pounded down on the roofs of all of the houses in Salem Village, marking the beginning of a new month for the residents who lived there. No one could have guessed that it would bring about something else as well.

"Eren! Your meal is ready!" Eren groaned, tossing over in his bed, and Mikasa pouted at his disinterest in the prospect of breakfast. Tugging on his sleeve, she snapped, "Eren, if you don't wake up now, you're going to be late to work!" Eren's back became as stiff as a rod, and in a flurry of blankets, was on his feet and shoving Mikasa out of his bedroom.

"Mikasa, why didn't you just tell me that?" Eren slammed his door, and immediately searched through a stack of clothes before donning a light brown shirt and breeches. Looking into the crusty mirror he had beside his desk, he rubbed of a little spot of dirt on his collar. Today he had to look his best. Because today was his first day at the Survey Ironworks.

Barely trying to comb his brown locks of hair, Eren dashed out of his room and managed to snag a piece of bread from the kitchen before he was out the door, holding his snack in hand and his large brown coat in the other. The town was alive with morning work. Children were running all around, carrying buckets of chicken feed, while their mothers frantically tried to catch them. There were men too, just like Eren, walking down the cobble streets, some leading large horses too. Eren could barely contain his excitement. His heart was racing, and each step sent nervous jitters through his stomach. Today was the day he'd been training for! Today was the day he proved himself, not only to the Survey, but also to his family, who had watched him grow with his heart set on this. Today was HIS day! Today-

Eren winced as cold water came into contact with his body, and he dropped his bread, the snack falling to the ground in a seemingly endless arc. His shirt was soaked, and the water began running down his legs uncomfortably.

"Ahhh!" Eren yelped. "What-?" He turned to see his a man with a shaved head looking awestruck at him, before his hand covered his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laugh. The man was carrying a small, metal pail.

"Ooops, Eren. I'm sorry!"

"Connie, seriously!?" said Eren in disbelief. This was just great, just great. As Eren stood there dripping like a wet dog, a girl with reddish brown hair came up behind Connie, holding a basket of potatoes. Her jaw dropped when she saw Eren, and just like Connie, tried to contain her laughter.

"Eren, w-what happened!" She keeled over, laughing so hard her face became a deep shade of red.

"What happened is that Connie over here spilled water all over me!" Eren growled, not thinking any of this was funny. He hastily started wringing his shirt out with one hand, while the other held his coat high above his head, as if he was protecting himself from any other attacks. "Sasha, get me a towel.." Sasha stood up straight again, and, still red in the face, handed over a small rag to Eren. As she stepped back, her gaze landed on the bread Eren had dropped.

"Eren you dropped your bread?!" Her hand circled around the slice before Eren could object, and Sasha proceeded to hold it to her nose and take a long sniff. She heaved out a long sigh before smiling dreamily, mumbling, " Such a beautiful scent." Eren, who had dried his face, rolled his eyes and tossed back the rag. Connie waved goodbye as he trotted down the road away from them, and once again, Eren was off.

Survey Ironworks was not that long off, so Eren barely had time to gather his emotions before he had walked through the wooden doors of the shop. At the small desk was a tall, blonde man who Eren immediately recognized as Erwin Smith, both head blacksmith and town minister. His ocean pools for eyes locked on to Eren's form, and Eren couldn't help but feel a little self conscious, especially since his clothes wet. Whatever Erwin thought, he didn't feel the need to disclose it, and he stood up from his desk, a warm smile on his face.

"Greetings. You must be Eren Yeager." Eren nearly shook at how much authority dripped off his voice, and he nodded quickly to answer his question. Erwin beckoned him closer, and Eren put all of his effort into being professional as he took steps forward. At a closer viewpoint, Erwin's desk was littered with papers, probably orders or what not, and a few books. But what really caught Eren's attention was a small, wooden carving of what looked to him like wings. Erwin seemed to catch on to what he was looking at, because he picked up the sculpture and held it up for Eren to inspect closer.

"This is the Survey's symbol, Eren" he said, and was immediately responded with furious nods. "But, this also represents the dream I have for this town. Salem Village deserves to have it's own freedoms, and so does everyone here too." Erwin smiled, and Eren gave him a look of pure admiration. Setting the carving down, Erwin stood and opened up a door behind him, and motioned for Eren to follow him. Eren scrambled over, and Erwin led him to the back of the shop, the place Eren had dreamt of since he was a little boy. It smelled of hay and warm bread, though there wasn't any of that there, and Erwin led him to two young men, one who was freakishly tall, and one who was, well, short.

"Eren, this is Mike Zacharias." Erwin motioned to the tall one, who, from under his waves of hair, smiled at him. "And this-'' Erwin looked at the short one, who was sharpening a rod of metal "-is Levi Ackerman." Levi's sharp eyes met Eren's for a second, before he was back to his work. Eren silently wondered what his problem was, but chose to ignore it. After all, not everyone in this world was friendly.

After the introduction to his working partners, Erwin took Eren through the steps of how to work equipment that he didn't already know [which wasn't a lot] and maybe after two hours of working on his own [in which once he accidently dropped a large pot on the floor and sent Levi into a hissy fit] Erwin dismissed him, saying something about Eren exceeding expectations. Eren said goodbye to Mike, who he'd learned in less than hour was a genuinely good guy, and waved at Levi, who rolled his eyes.

Eren really couldn't tell what was Levi's problem, but he was determined not to let it faze him. He was finally working his dream job, and things couldn't be better. What could go wrong?

 **Author's Note: Hello Fandom People! Here's a new series for you all! I'll be updating this along with It's Not Fair.**

 **Please comment and tell me what you think!**

 **Attack on Titan [Shingeki no Kyojin]**


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